


Pigeon Among Cats

by monotonehell



Series: Watermelon [1]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: M/M, mute!lester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-07-20 14:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16138937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monotonehell/pseuds/monotonehell
Summary: Tj and Cyrus are having a few problems with their friendship. Jonah is being Jonah, until someone wakes him up. Buffy is putting out fires and starting others. Reed is off the rails, but Lester has a watermelon.May contain traces of tarty.The expanded drabble as promised a long time ago, except canon messed with things so I've retconned a lot. If you read the first two chapters before, you might want to reread it all. As they are now chapters 2 and 3 and are very different. I've also folded the Jonah and Gus story with a similar name into here with a big twist.





	1. Watermelon

Lester sat on his bed cradling the only watermelon he’d rescued from the watermelon massacre. Reed had shot holes in all the others with his father’s gun in the quarry.

He didn’t know why he’d decided to keep one of the watermelons Reed had instructed him to take to the quarry. But he had, making the excuse to himself that there wasn’t enough room in the cart for this last one. Even though he’d made two trips, the second one with less than a half a load. It was an act of defiance.

Lester lowered his face and pressed his lips against the melon’s cool, green skin.

Sometimes he wished he could speak. He had things he wanted to tell Reed. It felt like he was an extra on a tv show who had no lines.

He wanted to tell him that he wasn’t always happy running Reed’s errands. He really liked Reed and he knew Reed liked him. Reed didn’t hug his other friends as much, as long and as close as he hugged Lester. 

He liked hanging with Reed, but he was afraid just how far he might go if Reed pushed him. There was no saying, “no,” to those puppy-dog eyes.

Lester absent mindedly caressed the watermelon.

Lester wanted to be able to tell Reed when things were going too far. Reed was mischievous, but he was also quite sweet and wouldn’t hurt anyone -- intentionally anyway. One day he’d get them in serious trouble. One day someone was going to get hurt.

The gun was definitely too far, in hindsight. It sounded like fun, the way Reed described it. When Reed handed Lester a fifty and said get as many watermelon as he could fit on the cart he towed behind his bike. Lester didn’t stop to ask where the money had come from. But he did pause and look questioningly at Reed until his best friend said he was going to bring a little gun for some target practice at the quarry. 

Lester was imagining an air rifle or similar. Something a bit ‘A Christmas Story’. So at the time he smiled and mimed getting shot in the eye. 

Reed had stared blankly for a moment before quoting the classic line, “No, you'll shoot your eye out.” Before laughing heartilly and grabbing Lester into a close side hug.

Lester desperately wanted a voice to call out Reed sometimes. There were things he wanted to tell Reed, like when he was going too far. But mostly, he wanted a voice so he could tell Reed how he felt.

He didn’t have a voice.

But he did have a watermelon.

\---

When the cops turned up at Reed’s house, Lester wished he had acted sooner. But luckily no one went to juvie. Reed was grounded for a whole month. But Reed’s dad also punished himself by selling his entire gun collection.

It was a wake-up call for everyone. Things were better now, but over everything else, it was the watermelon that made the biggest impact on Reed.

\---

 


	2. Corndog

“I don’t remember dirt biking being on my list, besides I've already done that,” Cyrus said as he took in the surroundings of the surprise location at which Tj’s Mom had dropped them off.

Tj thanked his Mom as she drove away, then lent close into Cyrus’ ear and whispered, “Not everything’s about you, Underdog.”

“I happen to like dirt biking, this is my club, besides you enjoyed yourself last time you tried!” Tj shouted as he quickly walked away from a stunned Cyrus.

\---

Cyrus was making excited-Cyrus noises as he clung onto Tj for dear life.

“Are you okay back there?” Tj shouted through his helmet. He was very much enjoying the tight embrace he was getting from the boy sat behind him on the bike as they rode around the least intense part of the course.

Cyrus had concentrated hard on keeping his eyes open as they shot along the track. He didn’t want to regret doing the whole thing with his eyes closed. This was much more intense than trying to get over a hump on Reed's bike, and to his surprise, he was really enjoying it.

“I’m more than okay! This is even better than when I was on Reed’s...” he paused remembering what had happened after the last time he had ridden a bike. 

“It's okay, Cyrus,” Tj shouted back, “you can say his name. It's behind us.”

Cyrus squeezed Tj a little tighter. 

Tj grinned wide, not that anyone could see it. He stopped the bike and took his helmet off.

“Sorry, but the race is on soon. So I’ll have to leave you to watch,” Tj said turning back to Cyrus, truly sorry that he had to part.

“No problem, I can walk from here. That’s assuming I can walk,” Cyrus dismounted and took a few wobbly steps.

“You know, if you’d given me notice I would have made signs to cheer you on with…” Cyrus said as he took a few backwards steps toward the sidelines.

“I know you would have, that’s why I didn’t,” Tj said dryly.

Cyrus humphed and walked away.

Tj hated to see Cyrus go, he kept his eyes on his friend as he walked away. His gaze went past Cyrus to a familiar face in the crowd -- looking straight at him was Reed.

Tj felt his stomach sink as he saw Reed walk up to Cyrus with the smirk on his face he constantly wore. Tj sighed and rode on to the starting line.

\---

“Hey, Cyrus. You know you should be careful with Tj,” Reed said as he took a bite out of a corndog that had a line of ketchup running down its side. 

Cyrus looked confused and concerned at the smirking blonde boy’s remark.

“Look I'm sorry what happened, but it wasn't my fault and it wasn't Tj's fault. So I don't think we have anything else to say to each other, ” Cyrus said, nervously.

“Cyrus, please could I just say two things? And then I'll leave you and Teej alone?” Reed asked. 

“Alright, go ahead, I’ll listen. But know that I consider Tj a good friend, and whatever happened in the past stays there,” Cyrus stated. 

“Cool. Thanks, Bro,” Reed paused as he collected his thoughts, “Listen, I'm not mad at you or Teej at all. Even though I gotta do community service like every weekend until I’m fourty or something, iunno Tj’s the math guy. It's cool. I mean, I was angry at Teej for what he did, at first. But…” Reed paused and looked away for a moment before continuing.

“Lester gave me a watermelon,” Reed laughed, “He wrote a damn letter on it with a sharpie.”

Cyrus relaxed a little out of curiosity, “What did it say?” 

“He tore me a new one. The guy can't speak, but he sure can write. He ripped into me about how I keep doing stupid stuff. How he goes along with it, which made him just as stupid. But he said that the gun was the last draw.”

“Straw,” Cyrus corrected him. 

“What?” Reed looked confused. 

“The full expression is ‘the last straw that broke the camel's back,” Cyrus explained. 

Reed smiled and slapped Cyrus’ back, “This is why I like you, Bro, you're funneh.” 

“Sorry I interrupted your story, please go on.” 

“Did I mention this was all written on a watermelon? I love that guy…” Reed’s attention wandered somewhere else as he absentmindedly tongued the end of his corndog.

Reed snapped out of it and shook his head clear, “Anyways. Lester made me realise that it was my fault and said he wouldn't be friends with me anymore unless I promised to run all of my scams through him first. Dude, there’s no way I’m giving him up. So I ain't mad at anyone but myself now and I'm sorry I put you all in danger and hope you will forgive me. Also I kinda hope we can be friends ‘cos I like you. You make me laugh.”

Reed's smile had dropped and was replaced with pleading puppy eyes. Even with a dab of ketchup at the corner of his mouth, Cyrus couldn't refuse that face. 

“Reed that’s very mature of you, and I'm happy to accept your apology,” Cyrus amused himself the realisation that this was more like an actual apology than what Tj had offered, “I hope we can be friends too.”

“That's the first thing,” Reed said as he offered a fist for Cyrus to bump and licked the ketchup up the side of his corndog. 

Cyrus half-heartedly returned the bump, why was he so distracted by what Reed was doing with that corndog, he wondered.

“So, what's... the other thing?” 

“It's like I said, you should be careful with Tj.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Don't let him get too close, or he might try to kiss you, like he did me.”

Cyrus just blinked, dumbfounded. 

“I mean I didn't mind, at the time, I like Teej. But he ain’t the one for me… or something like that. I dunno,” Reed became a little embarrassed about oversharing, but continued, “So I kinda had to broke Teej's heart. It was awkward af, though ‘cos he just pretended like he was messing with me. But I could tell he was serious.”

Reed paused again, realising that he’d outed much more than he intended. He wished Lester was here to whack him when he went too far. He decided that he’d let the cat out of the bag already, so he couldn’t put it back. Besides, Tj had gone on and on about how great Cyrus was and how you could trust him with anything. So he came back to the point.

“Dude, I know you're not like me, Lester and Teej, you’re with that Buffy girl, right? So don't… you know… lead him on or anything. You gotta set him straight, you know what I mean?”

Before Cyrus could tell Reed that he didn’t have a clue what he meant, an announcement that the first race was about to start came over the PA.

“Shoot!“ Reed put all the remaining four inches of the corn dog into his mouth and withdrew the stick, leaving the batter covered meat in his mouth.

“I gotta go race. First time since I was grounded for the gun thing. I know you’ll be good with Teej. I can trust you not to hurt him.” Reed spoke through his full mouth as he chewed his corndog.

“Wait… Tj kissed you?” was all Cyrus could say to the already disappearing blonde. 

He turned back to the track, but Tj was long gone. So he walked to the starting line and scanned the riders waiting to start the race. Reed was last to pull up to the starting line, but Tj wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

\---

Cyrus ran down to the club’s main building where Tj stored his bike and gear and found Tj throwing his jacket angrily at his locker.

“Not-at-all-scary-motorcycle-guy?” Cyrus gently offered.

Tj didn’t respond, instead he slumped forward, burying his face in the locker.

Cyrus stepped forward and put his hand on Tj’s shoulder. It was obvious to Cyrus that Tj was crying. Cyrus rubbed Tj’s shoulder gently and just waited.

“What do you want?” Tj asked between sobs.

“So… I spoke to Reed,” Cyrus said.

Tj said nothing.

“He apologised for the… gun thing… He also told me something,” Cyrus squeezed Tj’s shoulder a little.

Tj groaned, his head still in the locker.

“I have to admit, I was shocked. But…” Cyrus trailed off.

Tj pulled his head out of the locker, wiped his eyes, and said, heartbroken, “And what? And you don’t want to be friends anymore?”

“And… no!” Cyrus looked down at the floor before mumbling, “I kinda hope it’s true.”

Now Tj was shocked, he wiped his eyes and turned to Cyrus, “Wait… what did Reed tell you?”

“He said… that you…” Cyrus struggled to get the words out, “...kissed him once.”

Tj sniffed up a nose-full of snot, wiped his eyes again before quietly asking, “Why would you want that to be true?”

Cyrus looked up at Tj with his big watery eyes, “Because...“ He looked away again, steeled himself, and looked back at Tj.

“Because, then… maybe… you might try to kiss me one day…”

\---


	3. Totsiepop

Tj was a confused whirlwind of emotions. He couldn’t believe that Reed had outed him about the kiss. He panicked and went into full denial.

“Look, Cyrus… Reed... he lies. It’s all he does,” Tj explained in a panic, “He just wants to make trouble for me because... I told the cops about the gun. He’s trouble and part of the reason I had a bad reputation. He’s just so toxic…” He ended his speech with a frustrated argh!

“Oh…” Cyrus said, starting to feel anxiety rising with in him.

“I NEVER tried to kiss him. He just said that to make you not want to be my friend,” Tj blurted out.

“Oh.” Cyrus said again, more quietly this time, not sure what to believe.

Tj stopped, looking down as he calmed himself and slowly looked back at Cyrus.

“Wait…” Tj started, “You actually WANT me to kiss you?”

Cyrus made nothing but a tiny meep sound.

“You want me to kiss you?” Tj repeated more thoughtfully this time, “Cyrus, I like you. You've always helped me. And I like helping you with stuff. You’re a great friend. I like you a lot. But I'm… I don't like you like that… I guess… Sorry.”

‘Why am I saying this?’ Tj thought to himself. It was the opposite of how he felt about Cyrus. But he wasn’t ready to come out to Cyrus after what had happened with Reed.

Cyrus’ anxiety receded a little after Tj’s calm reaction, but now he was disappointed and embarrassed. He started to cry.

Tj wanted to comfort his friend, but things felt a little off now that he knew Cyrus had lip related designs on him. He wondered what Cyrus felt for him. He wondered what he felt for Cyrus. Then he pushed those thoughts down deep and went back to Old Tj. Old Tj who buried his feelings, who presented stoney faced and mean.

Feelings hurt too much, so he just shut them down.

He informed Cyrus that he was going to text his Mom to come get them.

\---

Cyrus and Tj didn’t speak or message each other the following Sunday.

The Monday back at school, Tj wasn’t hanging around the bus drop off hoping to run into Cyrus, like he had made his habit recently. Cyrus couldn’t find him at his locker either.

Cyrus finally spotted Tj during morning break, but when he approached the boy with a sunny hello, Tj made excuses that he had to leave to see a teacher about something.

Cyrus started to believe Tj was avoiding him when he later spotted Tj talking with some of his basketball teammates, instead of meeting the teacher as he had said.

Tuesday morning was the same, so Cyrus decided to let Tj stew a while and see what happened.

Over a week later, Tj was still avoiding Cyrus.

Cyrus quietly trod down the deserted corridor sucking a cherry tootsiepop. He was in the hallways without a hall pass. A risky move, but it was only a few minutes until the end of the period.

He turned the corner as he unsuccessfully resisted the urge to hum the theme to Mission Impossible to himself, And finally slipped into a cleaner’s room opposite Tj’s locker. He turned out the light but thought better of it after a few seconds of darkness started him imagining all kinds of things.

Through the door’s vent he could see Tj’s locker. 

‘A perfect plan, executed perfectly,’ he thought to himself.

The bell rang and the noise of a few hundred kids leaving their lessons soon filled the silence. 

Through the vent he could see a distinct absence of Tj, and out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn that a mop standing next to him was moving.

He’d staked out Tj’s locker between lessons before, but Tj had become expert at avoiding him. The tardy bell rang, indicating the next lesson’s start and Tj finally appeared at his locker.

Something touched Cyrus’ foot. He froze. The same something was now scratching at his ankle.

\---

Tj was feeling guilty as he hurriedly exchanged his math books for his history books. He’d been avoiding his friend for days now. He wasn’t good at dealing with situations, before he knew Cyrus he’d avoid a problem until it grew into a fully fledged catastrophe. 

Cyrus was the only person he could talk to like that. But he couldn’t get Cyrus’ help about this, because it was Cyrus he was confused about. Plus, he couldn't talk with anyone else about this because he couldn’t betray Cyrus’ privacy like that.

He knew he felt something for Cyrus. He wanted to be around him. He liked being close to him. He liked talking with him. But he wasn’t ready to admit anymore to himself, let alone tell Cyrus. After Reed’s rejection, he had become less sure about putting his heart out there. He had subconsciously decided to just pursue a close friendship with Cyrus without any romantic complications. He told himself that it would be enough to make him happy.

But he knew, deep down, he wanted more. Needed more. He stole intimacy by tapping Cyrus on the chest as much as he dared, by pushing Cyrus around, by leading Cyrus around by the shoulder, generally man-handling him for any kind of physical contact, by sitting a little too close. It didn’t dawn on him that Cyrus never complained about this. That Cyrus also sat a little too close. That Cyrus looked at him with the same adoring eyes…

But he was afraid.

Tj was suddenly broken from his thoughts by a loud squeal and crashing noise. He turned to see Cyrus lying on his back attempting to scurry away from an open cleaners’ room on his hands and heels.

Cyrus stopped when his head hit Tj’s feet and he dropped to the floor. 

He spat the tootsiepop out onto the floor, “There was a rat… I think… possibly an opossum.”

Tj looked at the boy using his feet for a pillow, “We have to talk.”

\---

Cyrus sat on one side of the school cafeteria table, Tj on the other. Both wore pained expressions on their faces. They had agreed to meet, but neither had said much since they sat down.

Cyrus eventually broke the silence with, “So do you want to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me all week?” he lowered his voice to a stage whisper, “Is it because of the thing I would like if you did?” he suddenly regretted his choice of words, “I mean… only if you wanted to…”

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” Tj said.

Cyrus sat up straight, slightly affronted at the apparent lie, “Well, it sure feels like it.”

Tj looked away from his friend, “I’ve been avoiding, doing anything about the situation, like I always do…” he said, feeling ashamed.

He looked back at Cyrus with a sudden resolve, “But, I’m going to do something about it this time. You taught me that.”

“Okay… good…” Cyrus replied, hesitantly.

“I don’t think we should hang out anymore,” Tj said, deadpan.

Cyrus’ heart sunk, “What do you mean? Why?”

“I can’t hang with you, knowing that you feel like that. It’s just unfair to you that I can’t return those feelings,” Tj stood, “I’m sorry, you’re a good friend, but I think this is the right thing for me to do, for your sake.”

Tj walked past a shell shocked Cyrus, placed a hand on his shoulder without making eye contact and walked away.

\---


	4. Babytaters

Jonah sat on his bed, scrolling through his socials. There was a post from the Ultimate Frisbee group with a few late photos from the last Ultimate Summer Camp. He looked at a few that Gus had hearted. They were all selfies of Gus and Jonah with their arms around each other’s shoulders, both smiling and happy.

Jonah smiled. Gus was a good guy and Jonah liked him. Jonah liked everyone, but Gus was especially warm to Jonah, always claiming that Jonah was his only friend. Jonah liked the attention from Gus. He liked the attention Cyrus gave him too, or at least used to give him.

Then he found some posts from Andi. Andi with Amber and Libby outdoors somewhere. 

All three together. 

His anxiety rose a little as he imagined all three of them talking about him. He talked himself out of that thinking, and excused it as just paranoia.

He hoped.

A new post popped up, Cyrus and Buffy smushing babytaters into each other’s faces at the Spoon. Jonah pulled some shoes on as quickly as he could and hot-tailed it out the door so he could ‘accidentally’ run into them.

\---

“Yuck, I have baby tater in my ear,” Cyrus laughed as they wiped the deep fried potato from their faces, “I hope that picture is worth this sticky feeling.”

“People love it. Look,” Buffy held her phone in Cyrus’ face showing the QuikWire post gaining hearts.

“Seven hearts - we’re Internet Famous!” Cyrus joked, before more seriously adding, “Thanks for dragging me out of my room, I feel better now.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Buffy asked.

“It’s Tj…”

“I KNEW IT!” Buffy said loudly before clapping a hand over her mouth, embarrassed at her outburst.

“Please, Buffy. It’s not his fault.”

“Ok?..”

Cyrus knew that was the closest thing to an apology Buffy would give.

He swallowed before quietly admitting, “You might not know this but… I have feelings for Tj.”

Buffy resisted the urge to shout “WELLL DAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” and simply nodded.

“You knew?”

“Please. Cyrus, you two are sickeningly cute together. So if it isn’t his fault - what happened?”

“I told him, and he ended our friendship,” Cyrus said, holding back a tear.

Buffy was surprised. She'd seen how Tj responded to Cyrus. She'd seen how he looked at Cyrus like he was more attractive than basketball shirts and hoodies. She was sure that her former worst enemy had the biggest crush on her best friend. And the way Cyrus had continuously defended Tj through the pass-buff-the-ball crisis, and the gun thing, had convinced her of Cyrus’ love for the tall, annoying, cringe rapping dork of a jock. 

“I don't get that idiot,” Buffy said.

“Which idiot?” Jonah asked, hoping it wasn’t him. 

Buffy and Cyrus had both missed Jonah's arrival. They looked at him as he stood over the booth. 

“Umm, hi?” Jonah said weakly, flashing them his disarming cute guy look. It had worked all through middle school, up until now, but both Buffy and Cyrus seemed unmoved by his charisma. 

Still, Jonah knew he could rely on his Cy-guy for some cheerful words. He was always there with support, although the vest hadn't made an appearance in a while. 

Jonah could really use some of Cyrys’ unconditional love right now, what with his last three variously-labeled girls all seemingly forming a no-jonanhs club. 

“Oh hi, Jonah,” Buffy glanced at Cyrus, “Sorry I'd invite you to join us but… I need to go plan some things for the girls’ basketball team…”

Buffy stood and slipped past Jonah, as he said his goodbyes. Jonah replaced Buffy in the booth and smiling at Cyrus he opened his mouth to speak. 

Before he could say a word, Buffy appeared at Cyrus’ side, grabbing him by the shoulder she dragged him from the booth. 

“...and I need Cyrus’ help with that. So bye.”

Jonah fell back into the cushioned seat and sighed as he looked at the ceiling, noting two babytaters stuck there. 

“Stole my Cy-guy.” 

\---


	5. Pancakes

This wasn’t the first time Cyrus and Buffy had let Jonah down. He remembered back before summer break when he was trying to raise money for the Ultimate Frisbee team by holding a pancake breakfast.

\---

“Why did I just get a text from you?” Jonah asked Gus.

“You said to text my friends,” Gus answered. He knew it wasn’t what Jonah meant him to do, but Gus had been trying to convince Jonah that he was his only friend for days.

“Your other friends! The ones who aren’t here,” Jonah said, frustration starting to creep in.

“They’re all here…” Gus said sadly, looking at the floor.

Jonah let out a frustrated sigh. 

‘This again,’ Jonah thought.

Jonah didn’t understand why Gus was trying to convince him that he had no other friends. As far as Jonah was concerned, Gus was a really nice guy. He just couldn’t believe that no one else would want to be Gus’ friend. He was sure Gus was just trying to make him feel sorry.

And it was working. Jonah was very fond of the bespectacled redhead. But Jonah was the  Ultimate Frisbee Team Captain, he had responsibilities, and now wasn’t the time to get into this. They had pancakes to sell, money to raise. 

Business mode engaged.

He forced himself to smile at Gus, and found that it wasn’t actually that difficult to do. When Gus’ voice broke if he was nervous (which was a lot) it made Jonah smile. It wasn’t that he found Gus funny, like you would a clown. He just found it… somehow endearing?

“It’s okay, Gus. We can do this! I’ll text some friends for help. Meantime, you go get people’s orders…”

“Go out there?” Gus asked in a panic as he indicated the serving area with most of his body.

Jonah put a calming hand on Gus’ shoulder and smiled his patented whole face smile.

“You got this Gus. Your team needs you. I need you,” he said as he looked straight into Gus’ eyes.

“Okay,” Gus squeaked before clearing his throat and repeating the affirmation more confidently.

“Great, you do that and I’ll start cooking pancakes,” Jonah said.

“...And bacon!” Gus said also smiling. He was a bit scared of the responsibility, not to mention all the work they’d have to do between just the two of them. But he preferred it being just Jonah and him. He liked it when he got all of Jonah’s attention.

\---

“We need more pancakes, and bacon, those people are hungry,” Gus said hustling through the door to the community centre’s kitchen. Things were going okay but they were starting to fall behind.

“I just put some on, they’ll have to wait,” Jonah explained.

“Well, hurry up, a husky kid just growled at me,” Gus said, a little worried that the kid might take a bite out of him.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Jonah was starting to stress out after cooking several batches of pancakes and bacon. The end wasn’t in sight and so far no Buffy and Cyrus.

“...And my feet hurt,” Gus continued to complain.

“Well suck it up, Gus,” Jonah said curtly.

Gus looked up at the admonishment. He’d upset Jonah again. He didn’t like himself much when he did that. He wanted Jonah to like him and acting out like he often did wasn’t helping. He was trying to think of something helpful to say or do when he noticed Cyrus and Buffy walk in.

“Cyrus, my hero, and Buffy, my saviour,” Jonah said warmly with a lot of relief.

“Do you still need me?” Gus asked crestfallen. Jonah never paid him much attention when Cyrus was around. 

“Of course! We haven’t even started busting those tables,” Jonah said, although he meant “bussing”, he was under stress.

Gus didn’t want to be there anymore. He tried to think of some excuse as he wiped his nose. That gave him an idea.

“Oh no, I think I’m getting a nose bleed,” Gus cried as he ran from the building.

\---

“Why am I like this?” Gus said to himself angrily, sat in a corner out the back of the community centre. 

He held his glasses in one hand as he tried to wipe the tears that fell from his eyes with the other. He buried his face in his hands as he sniffed and dribbled.

He didn’t notice anyone approach until there was a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, startled to see Jonah sat next to him. Jonah said nothing, he just looked sadly into Gus’ eyes and slipped his hand from Gus’ shoulder, across his back and onto his far shoulder. He both lent into Gus and pulled him closer.

“Sorry,” Jonah said.

Gus sniffed up some mucus and asked, “Why are you sorry? I’m the one who ran out on you.”

“I dunno. I must have done something wrong to make you run out? Was it because I shouted at you?”

“You never shouted at me. Even when I was being dumb. You’re always nice.”

Jonah was confused, he remembered being angry with Gus when he asked if he was still needed. He was sure he had lost his cool somewhere then.

He squeezed Gus’ shoulder tighter, “Well if I did shout at you, I’m sorry. I like you a lot and it hurts that I made you cry.”

Gus perked up a little and attempted to fix his face before saying, “You’re my only friend and I like you a lot too.”

“I still don’t believe you. There’s no way a guy as docious as you has no friends,” Jonah turned to look at the redhead sitting next to him. Even with Gus’ eyes red and puffy from crying and his nose running, Jonah still thought Gus was very handsome.

“So did your heroes save the day? I bet SuperCyrus and MegaBuffy made a tonne of pancakes and bacon, fed the homeless and saved an orphanage from burning down,” Gus said saltily.

“Well,” Jonah started, “Actually, They were fighting the whole time, and I started to panic, real bad.”

Gus’ expression changed from bitter to surprised.

“It was a disaster, Gus! I don’t think we made any money and we sent away a load of people hungry…”

“Wait… did you have another panic attack?” 

Jonah had talked with Gus about his previous panic attack, because he thought Gus might understand and for some reason he found Gus easy to talk to. Gus knew what Jonah had experienced, as he’d been suffering from panic attacks for some years. Gus’ empathy helped and had drawn their friendship closer.

“Almost, I think, Cyrus said I was being anxious about getting anxious. So now I have two things to worry about,” Jonah replied sadly.

Gus put his arm over Jonah’s shoulder and they sat in the side hug for a while.

Jonah turned to look at Gus, causing Gus to turn to him. Their eyes searched each other’s faces as they sat with their bodies close. Gus moved his face a little closer to Jonah’s.

“Look at us… we’re both a mess,” Jonah said, breaking the spell, before they both laughed a little.

“Wan’a come over my place?” Jonah asked Gus, “I could use a friend tonight.”

Gus wanted to be anywhere Jonah was.

\---

Jonah was desperate for validation. He’d thought about seeing Gus, but things were a little strained between them after The Thing That Happened at Ultimate Camp™. But after remembering what had happened in that corner out the back of the community centre, he thought it was time to confront Gus about The Thing That Happened at Ultimate Camp™. 

Jonah hoped that if they could work past that, then Gus might give Jonah what Amber, Andi, and Libby couldn’t.

As he left The Spoon, he realised that he could add Cyrus to that list also. 

\---

Buffy walked Cyrus home and made sure he was okay before she left. She didn’t tell Cyrus, but she was on a mission.

She was going to end Old Tj once and for all.

\---


	6. Pizza

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it, Maaaa,” Gus shouted across the house as he walked to the front door. 

He was expecting a pizza. But instead he opened the door to a Jonah.

He slammed the door closed leaving Jonah out in the cold.

Then realising what he had done, he opened it again sheepishly saying, “Sorry, I panicked.”

Gus’ mother walked up to Gus and handed him some money before realising that Jonah;   
a) Didn’t have a pizza, and   
b) wasn’t the pizza guy.

She looked at Jonah and back to Gus before breaking out in a huge smile.

“Gus you didn’t tell me you were having a friend around,” she said excitedly. Her son never invited friends home. As far as she knew Gus had none.

“Come in, come in!” she grabbed Jonah by the collar and dragged him into the living room.

“Sit sit sit!” she commanded, “I have to go to work, but make yourself at home. Gus offer your friend…” she looked at the handsome boy and realised she hadn’t a clue who he was.

“Jonah,” Gus said.

“Jonah, a drink,” but immediately followed that with, “Would you like a drink Jonah?”

“Maaaa… please stop being weird,” Gus whined.

Gus’ mother stood up straight and realised she was probably being overbearing. 

“Anyway, yes, I need to go to work, I’m already late. Pizza’s on its way. I gave you money… Have fun you two,” she smiled kissed Gus on the cheek and run out the door grabbing her keys from a side table on the way.

Gus sat next to Jonah on the couch and looked at his friend, “Sorry about that. She’s a bit flustered ‘cos work called her in for an emergency shift at the hospital.”

“It’s ok. Parents can be weird,” Jonah said, adding quietly, (So I’ve heard.)

“So umm… do you want to stay for pizza? I was going to be all alone tonight.”

“Are you sure you want to be alone with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to be… after we shared that cabin at Ultimate Camp.”

“What happens at Ultimate Camp, stays at Ultimate Camp. Besides it was just a one time thing,” Gus said flatly, looking away from Jonah.

“One time? Almost every night for four weeks isn’t one time,” Jonah complained.

Gus just looked at the floor.

“We should talk about it, Gus.”

Gus continued to look at the floor.

The doorbell rang.

\---

Pizza eaten and discussion avoided Gus and Jonah sat beside each other on the couch watching some random movie on Netflix. Jonah thought they should have talked about it, but now he found himself happy with Gus’ idea of avoiding talking about it instead.

“We’re doing it again,” Jonah mentioned as the credits rolled.

“Doing what?”

Jonah raised his arm, closest to Gus. Gus’ arm came with it because they were holding hands.

“I’m ok with not talking about it,” Gus busied himself with the remote looking for another movie to watch with his free hand.

“But… what are we?”

“You’re the one who doesn’t like labels.”

“Oof.”

“Ever since the pancake day, we’ve hugged or held hands. I don’t question it. All I know is I like it,” Gus took off his glasses and looked at Jonah, “I like you.”

Jonah smiled, “Ok. We won’t question it.”

“Can it just be me from now on?” Gus asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“No holding hands with Amber, or Andi, or Libby, or anyone else. Can’t I be enough?”

Jonah suddenly felt sick. Gus had been there for him all this time. He’d even listened to Jonah complain about Andi. All this time, Gus had wanted to be with Jonah. He’d just patiently waited while giving. Jonah realised he’d been a user. This dorky redhead who most people wrote off as a hopeless case, understood more than he let on. 

Jonah squeezed Gus’ hand and lent into him.

“Sorry. You’re so much more than enough for me. More than I deserve.”

Gus smiled broadly, started another movie and they watched it for a few minutes in comfortable silence.

“Mom will be at work until tomorrow. You wana stay the night, like at Ultimate Camp?”

Jonah blushed. He hadn't realised it was Gus’ cuddling that he had missed all this time he’d been chasing Andi. 

“Ok.”

\---


	7. Muffins

“Legs go up…” Cyrus sang sadly to himself as he swung as high as he could manage by himself, which was a lot higher than he used to swing before he met Tj.

“Legs go down…” he continued on the back swing.

The sound of somebody beatboxing with their mouth interrupted Cyrus’ melancholy.

”That’s how we make the swing go round...” a familiar voice rapped behind him.

Cyrus slowed his swing and twisted around to see Tj looking at him hopefully.

“What no cheesy pick up line?” Cyrus quipped.

“What?”

“The first time you found me here you asked if I come here often, the second you asked if this swing was taken.”

“Those… those weren’t pick up lines.”

“If you say so.”

“Damn,” Tj exclaimed.

“What?”

“I bought you muffins, that’s worse than a pick up line.”

“Wait, you bought me muffins?” Cyrus asked as a basket of muffins was waved under his nose, “Why did you bring me muffins?”

Tj walked around and sat on the next swing.

“Because, even though some stuff happened… I shouldn’t have killed our friendship,” Tj held the basket in front of Cyrus again, “Forgive me? They’re chocolate, chocolate chip.”

Cyrus sighed,”Tj it isn’t that easy.”

“Sure it is. If you let it be.”

“That’s not how things work.”

Tj twisted his swing so he was facing Cyrus, “Look, Cyrus. I don’t know how I feel about you… other than I miss your company. Can we please be friends first and work out the other stuff as we go?”

“What’s the other stuff?”

“I don’t know, that’s why we gotta be friends so we can work it out!” Tj calmed himself before continuing, “Look you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to see me. This is our swingset.”

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at Tj, “Damn it, Tj. You got me there.”

“Friends then?”

“We never stopped being friends, Tj,” Cyrus held out his hand.

Tj looked at the proffered hand and considered holding it for a moment. What would that mean if he did. He still wasn’t ready for…

“The basket, Tj. Fork it over.”

“Oh… right.”

\---

“Ergh I feel sick,” Cyrus held his stomach.

“I told you not to swing after you ate all the muffins,” Tj admonished, “Anyway, It’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“I made a deal with the Devil and I have to deliver you.”

“I think I have sugar poisoning, it sounded like you said something about a deal with the Devil.”

“Ok, by Devil I mean Buffy, and by deal I mean deal.”

“Either you start making sense this minute or I’m going to vomit in your shoe.”

“Buffy was the one who helped me this time.”

“So you went to Buffy instead of me?”

“I couldn’t come to you, because you were the problem. Besides she came to me. She really cares about you.”

“What… did she do?”

“She made me realise that our friendship is more important than anything and that ending it wasn’t helping anything. It was just Old Tj avoiding things as per usual.”

Cyrus smiled, then burped,”Oh that feels better. Sorry, it was just gas not poison muffins.”

“Hey! I made those muffins.”

“You made them?”

“Ok… bought them.”

“Tj, I’m glad we’re friends.”

“Me too, Underdog.”

“Wait, what was the deal you made with Buffy and what is it time for?”

Tj stood, “Come on.”

\---


	8. Cornchips and Soda

“How is there a party without me knowing?” Cyrus asked Tj as they walked up to Buffy’s front door.

“Buffy didn’t say, she just told me to bring you,” Tj said as he made to knock.

The door swung open before he made contact with it.

“It’s not really a party, just corn chips, soda and friends,” Buffy said from inside.

The boys walked in to find Andi, Amber and Marty sitting in the living room.

Cyrus smiled and looked to Buffy, “Marty?”

“Well, after I fixed Tj for you, I realised that I needed to fix someone else.”

Tj sighed and said (damn it) under his breath. He sat next to Marty who looked apprehensive.

“Buffy said you were all friends now, I wasn’t sure if I believed it,” Marty challenged.

“Marty, I will apologise to everyone in school if I have to. I was a jerk and I’m sorry.”

“Was that your apology?” Marty scoffed, “How come she gets a rap and I just get ‘sorry’?”

Cyrus looked worried like they were both about to throw down.

Marty’s face cracked into a huge grin, “It’s cool, Tj. Buffy explained that the Old Tj is dead. I was just yanking your chain.” 

With that Marty shoved a bowl of corn chips into Tj’s lap and went in search of more soda.

Cyrus sat down next to Tj, relieved. 

\---

“Dice Dares,” Amber stated emphatically waving the truth or dare style dice game around her head.

Her suggestion of what to do next was met with a chorus of groans from the other kids, except Andi, who supported the idea, “Come on it’ll be fun.”

“Ok, but nothing dangerous, and no one is forced to do anything they don’t want to do,” Marty conceded with conditions.

“Don’t worry, Marty. This is the G-Rated version,” Amber winked at him.

Marty blushed. He’d seen the raunchy version online.

The coffee table was removed from the centre of the room and they all sat in a circle on the carpet.

Amber, who had brought the risky game, loudly stated, “There’s six of us! Perfect.Okay remember your number!” 

She pointed to each person in turn and gave them a number from one to six to match the six sided dice. Then she pulled out the two ten sided dice and the list of instructions from the box.

“Oh is this Dungeons and Dragons?” Cyrus asked excitedly.

Everyone looked at him accusingly.

“Because I’ve never wanted to play that,” Cyrus recovered from embarrassment.

This was a ‘sophisticated’ highschool party game. Sophisticated like spin the bottle.

“Ok everyone remember their numbers? Let’s play…” Amber rolled the two six sided dice and the two ten sided dice. 

The game consisted of two people being chosen by the six sided die and one of a hundred ‘dares’ read from a list chosen by the two ten sided dice.

The dares were mostly clean. Including things like having to do ten sit ups in twenty seconds while the other person holds your ankles, say the alphabet backwards with in a minute, wrap your head in toilet paper, take a photo and post it on social media. But they also included sitting on the other person’s lap for two turns and number 99 was a kiss.

After the first few turns Buffy was sitting on Amber’s lap and Tj’s back was wet from having to survive an ice cube down his shirt. 

The dice were rolled again. This time Tj and Marty’s numbers were up and the ten sided dice read ‘99’.

Amber burst out laughing, knocking Buffy off her lap.

“Teej and Marty have to kiss!” she giggled.

Buffy shot Amber a warning look and Amber corrected herself, “Ok only if they both consent, but the penalty for not doing it is another ice cube because Tj makes the best faces.”

Tj squirmed. The ice water had dampened the back of his underpants. He looked at Cyrus and at Marty. Marty just shrugged his consent but added, “No tongue!”

Tj looked at Cyrus again, “I’ll do it.”

Amber cheered.

“But I need to talk to Cyrus first.” Tj said before grabbing Cyrus and dragging him into the kitchen and closing the door behind them.

\---

“Are you ok?” Cyrus looked at Tj once they were safely sequestered in the kitchen.

“I’m better than ok.”

“You want to kiss Marty?”

“What? No?”

“Then why are we out here?”

“Because I don’t want my first kiss to be with him.”

“Second kiss.”

“What?”

“Reed was your first kiss. Unless there were others I’m unaware of.”

“Ok. Sure. Reed was my first…”

But Tj was interrupted by Cyrus’ lips on his. Tj was surprised, but not disappointed. He returned the gentle kiss before they separated.

“Why’d you do that?” Tj asked.

“Because I thought that’s where this was heading and you were never going to get there.”

Tj lent forward again and rested his head on Cyrus’.

“You can be a little annoying you know that?” Tj said softly.

“Well you can be oblivious,” Cyrus said even softer.

“Well you can be very judgy,” Tj whispered, as his lips again closed in on Cyrus’.

“Well you can be intimidating,” Cyrus said breathlessly.

“You know what else you are? The only person I want to do this with,” Tj said before kissing Cyrus again.

\---

“Do you think they are going to be long?” Marty said.

“Should we go check on them?” Andi asked.

Suddenly the kitchen door was flung open. Tj stormed into the living room, grabbed Marty and gave him a stage kiss on the lips.

“Can we play Property! now?” Tj demanded.

“NO!” Buffy and Cyrus screamed.

\---

The end. 


End file.
